Finally, a troll informed me this week that Massively OP is nothing more than a pile of Kickstarter propaganda and some WoW and GW2 columns, so if you happened to read the 120 or editorials, streams, and articles we published this week that aren’t related to crowdfunding, good news, you imagined all that!

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the weekly roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

On this week’s show, Bree and Justin cruise into a wild week jam-packed with updates and a full-fledged MMO reboot on top of everything else. It’s all they can do to hang on to the bucking bronco of news without being flung off into side topics, but they’ll do their best!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Commanders, today is your day: Elite Dangerous’ Beyond – Chapter One goes live this afternoon after today’s lengthy downtime. As we’ve previously noted, the update is free and rolls out to PC, PS4, and Xbox One simultaneously.

“Beyond – Chapter One introduces challenging Wing Missions, all-new megaship interactions that allow for collection of data and cargo, and a range of major quality of life improvements including changes to the crime and punishment mechanics, visual planetary enhancements, an overhaul of the mission rewards system and the addition of a trade data overlay that will help Commanders find the most profitable trades in the Milky Way.”

Expect a continuation of the ongoing Thargoid plotline, a new combat ship, and more clues about the Guardians too. We’ve got the brand-new cinematic short video and new images down below. Good luck in there, and if you spot my husband flying around, tell him to log out and get back to work.

This week in MMO crowdfunding, online shooter Pantropy broke the 33% barrier on its ongoing Kickstarter. The game has half a month to go to get to its $92,000 goal. “We’re still working on a lot of improvements and bug fixes. We have made the crafting recipes less complex and discussed a few ideas to punish players that kill or raid their own faction,” the team says in its most recent Kickstarter update. Punishment includes hard time on “Troll’s Island,” where players must perform “repetitive tasks (like hammering ores) in order to be free again” – or have guildies willing to risk life and limb trying to bust them out! (It might just be easier on the devs to just… turn off friendly fire, yeah?)

Meanwhile, Dual Universe is vowing to step up its communication game, Shroud of the Avatar rolled out R51, we finished up our tour of Project Gorgon, Ship of Heroes previewed pieces of its alpha, and Elite Dangerous is prepping to roll out the first leg of Beyond next week. And Camelot Unchained is still riding high on its beta one announcement earlier this month; this week, it’s been testing a 100x100x100 scenario – a tiny sliver of the eventual battle size. Don’t click that link if you’re hungry!

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

“This one-of-a-kind prize will allow you to name a class of Mega Ship in Elite Dangerous,” says the company’s auction listing. “All future Mega Ships added to the game of this class will bear your name for all to see. The winning bidder will also will also get to see this new variant of Mega Ship before anyone else.” It’s currently sitting at £1,021 (almost $1500) right now with about five hours to go. Check out the whole roster of loot on Ebay for a good cause!

We’re just a week away from the launch of Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One, that fascinating space abomination of colons and dashes! Frontier made the announcement this morning, pleasing commanders on all three platforms.

“The wait is nearly over as Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One arrives on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 27. Beyond, the third Elite Dangerous season will be free for all players, and will focus on community-requested enhancements to the overall player experience. Alongside those core foundational changes, new in-game content will progress the ever-expanding player-driven storyline and give pilots across the galaxy new tools to shape the ongoing narrative.”

As we’ve previously covered, the update buffs the criminal system, adds new notoriety levels, pulls GalNet news into the game, implements new brokers and contacts, and improves trading. And yes, it’s freeeeeeee. New pics and the trailer down below!

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Dual Universe is still zooming along in its pre-alpha, and it’s addressed just that in a new AMA this week. The studio acknowledges that the game’s development has become delayed (you’ll recall it was originally supposed to launch a full alpha last fall) but that money isn’t an issue. “Don’t worry, we are OK,” Novaquark tells backers. “We are going to publish a roadmap before Summer. For the 24/7 [testing], this is a high level priority, and we hope to be able to get you there in a few weeks. It won’t be full time however, but more like full week-ends to start with.” The studio also says it’ll launch a second crowdfunding effort later this quarter.

On a more meta note, today marks Massively OP’s third birthday as an independent MMORPG website, and the plain truth is that wouldn’t be here today without the generous donors who contributed to our original Kickstarter back in 2015, our Patreon and PayPal donors, our Twitch subbers, our Amazon clicky-clickers, and you lovely folks who whitelist our ads. You and we are living proof that crowdfunding can work! Thank you all so very much from the whole team. Here’s to three and many more!

At long last, ECO has moved from alpha into beta and Early Access on Steam. Drop a little money on it and you can get into testing this blocky ecological simulation sandbox. Yes, it’s along the lines of Minecraft, but the goal here is simulating the influence you can have on ecological simulations. So you can insist to others that it’s educational and actually be right.

We’ve also had some other beta news this week, and as we do every week, we’ve assembled some highlights below in easy-to-read list format.

On the other hand, any fans of upcoming mobile title Fellow: Eternal Clash will be sad to hear that the game’s beta test has been pushed back to March after originally being planned for this week. Who likes waiting longer?

Fans of Starfall Tactics are going to need to wait a little longer, but not much longer; the title is having another test round starting on February 21st. There’s a lot of new stuff to test out in the latest build, too. Who wouldn’t be happy to test more things?

Last but not least, World of Warcraft: Battle for Azerothalpha testing has begun, although as this is a proper alpha there’s still a bunch of stuff missing or not implemented. Still, that means you might find a lovely new gift of alpha access sitting when you open up your launcher. Who doesn’t like that?

All of the questions above, I promise, were purely rhetorical. You don’t need to answer them down in the comments. You can, however, let us know if something is wrong with the list below where we keep all of our important beta news. You can also let us know about betas you’re involved in testing, or talk about this week’s stories, or whatever you so desire. We’re flexible that way.

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained’s idea of a “short” newsletter is still over 3000 words, but it’s live this week with a rundown of the news that’s still buzzing from January: that the studio is making new hires left and right in the wake of a huge cash investment that’ll speed up production of the game. It’s also called its first alpha a success now that it’s smashed some lag bugs.

And in surprising news, one of the principals on Greed Monger actually began processing refunds for its 2012 MMORPG Kickstarter after years of abandonment.

Elite Dangerous has once again become the battleground between griefers and everybody else, this time with real-life stakes.

A few weeks ago, the Elite community banded together to come to the aid of CMDR DoveEnigma13, a 39-year-old player dying of cancer. In his honor, players and Frontier announced what they called The Enigma Expedition, a month-long, open expedition throughout Colonia. Hundreds of players signed up to join in the journey, including DoveEnigma13 and his young daughter on what was likely be their last journey together in the game. Frontier even chipped in a huge megaship to anchor the event.

But midway through the expedition, griefers showed up to bomb and disable that ship. Because of course they did. Oh, and there’s a contingent of nihilists on the forums providing them cover. Because of course they are.

It’s the year of Elite: Dangerous’ Beyond DLC, and this space sim isn’t heedlessly jumping into the deep cosmos without careful course planning.

A second beta build for Beyond (say that three times fast) is currently on the test server. There is no major headlining feature of this patch, but there’s plenty of interesting tweaks and adjustments that will have an effect on practically all spheres of gameplay.

Engineers are going to find that they can progress faster through the ranks if they have a strong reputation. The studio did a balance pass on blueprint stats, added a “civilization filter” to the game map, increased the yield of minerals from asteroids, added boron and lead as potential mining mats, and gave black market smugglers more incentive to engage in their shady dealings.

Massively OP Readers, you are clear for take-off. Please cross-check the cabin, assume flight positions, and break out the best aerial screenshots you have. Fair flying and Godspeed!

Rafael zooms into view for our headlining picture today from a game that he has only recently discovered: Blade and Soul. Oh, I josh, I josh. Rafael’s the site’s premiere B&S evangelist, so beware if he corners you in a crowded tavern!

“It wouldn’t be Blade and Soul if it didn’t have interesting outfits and Wushu gliding,” he said. “Case in point? My Gunner, Haliee, gliding around in her jammies. Yup. She can fly around in her cute night shirt complete with little cat patterns. Here she is as she approaches her landing. ‘The runway is clear zero-niner.'”